Summary IEB History Topic 1 : the Cold War :USSR,USA,Cuba

TOPIC 1

THE COLD WAR USA and USSR and Cuba


1917
October: Bolshevik Revolution in Russia. 1919
Lenin and the Bolsheviks seize power.
Western powers support the White Army in Paris Peace Conference: Allies give Russian
the Russian Civil War against the territory to other countries.
Bolsheviks.
1938
September: Munich Conference. Soviets are 1939
August: Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact signed
excluded from discussions.
by Stalin and Hitler.
1941 1 September: Germany invades Poland, starting
WWII.
June: Nazis invade the Soviet Union (Operation
Barbarossa).
August: Atlantic Charter signed by Roosevelt (USA)
and Churchill (UK).
1943
January: Casablanca Conference (USA and UK
First Big Three – WWII Alliance = Formed: 1941,
solidified by 1943 Tehran Conference
plan the next phase of WWII).
Winston Churchill (UK Prime Minister), Franklin D. November: Cairo Conference (USA, UK, and China
Roosevelt (US President) and Joseph Stalin (USSR discuss post-war Asia).
General Secretary) November: Tehran Conference (first meeting of
1944 the Big Three: Churchill, Roosevelt, Stalin).
July: Bretton Woods Conference creates
economic institutions (IMF and World Bank).
1945
February: Yalta Conference (second Big Three meeting;
October: Percentages Agreement between
plan post-war Europe, division of Germany, USSR agrees
Stalin and Churchill to divide influence in
to join war against Japan).
Eastern Europe. May: WWII in Europe ends (Germany surrenders).
July: Potsdam Conference (Truman replaces Roosevelt;
1946 tensions rise between USA and USSR).
March: Churchill delivers "Iron Curtain" August: USA drops atomic bombs on Hiroshima and
speech in Fulton, Missouri. Nagasaki. Japan surrenders. WWII ends fully.
USSR gains territory: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, eastern
Poland, Bessarabia (from Romania), part of Finland, and
part of East Prussia.
United Nations founded.
1947
March 12: Truman Doctrine announced to support
1948 countries resisting communism (focus: Greece and
Turkey).
April: Marshall Plan officially begins.
June: Marshall Plan proposed by U.S. Secretary of State
Cold War becomes diplomatic conflict.
George Marshall.
June: Berlin Blockade begins as USSR tries to push
September: 16 countries apply for Marshall Plan aid,
Allies out of Berlin.
including UK, France, West Germany, Italy, Netherlands,
Belgium, Norway, Sweden, Greece, Turkey, Austria, etc.
September: Cominform (Communist Information
Bureau) created by USSR to coordinate communist
parties.
Organization for European Economic Cooperation
(OEEC) set up to manage Marshall aid.


1949
May 12: Berlin Blockade lifted by USSR.
May: West Germany (Federal Republic of Germany) is
1953 formed by USA, UK, and France.
October: East Germany (German Democratic Republic)
March: Death of Joseph Stalin. created by USSR.
April: NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) formed
by USA and Western allies.
January: COMECON (Council for Mutual Economic
Assistance) created by USSR as economic answer to
Marshall Plan.
Mao Zedong declares the People's Republic of China.
China becomes communist.

1955
May: Warsaw Pact formed by USSR and Eastern
Bloc countries as a military alliance.